We are taught in elementary school that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and found us this great land. We were taught how the Indian people taught us how to grow corn and get the best use out of the soil. We colored pictures of Pilgrims and Indians enjoying a great Thanksgiving dinner together. Teachers don’t like telling children that the Indians were slaughtered so we could have our city on top of the hill. Teachers also teach us about slavery and how horrible it was. They forget to mention that slavery played a part in rich people getting richer, or how a lot of companies would never have made it without the slaves working for the White man. We are taught about the German keeping Jewish people in concentration camps, but it is left out that America was doing the same to the Japanese. America is a nation built of immigrants but America even limited who could come to America. Not letting in races they saw as trouble, or mentally ill people who might tarnish the exceptionalism. We are a nation that hails the Bill of Rights as one of the greatest documents. People don’t seem to realize how many of those guaranteed freedoms have been altered by a government that no longer works for the people. It can be argued that every nation probably feels that they are the exceptional one. It is easy to see why so many American feel that America is the greatest, because it is something that we have been told our entire lives. If we look at America through the lenses that have been provided for us then America really is the best and superior. If those glasses are removed it is easily seen that American exceptionalism is nothing but a
We are taught in elementary school that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and found us this great land. We were taught how the Indian people taught us how to grow corn and get the best use out of the soil. We colored pictures of Pilgrims and Indians enjoying a great Thanksgiving dinner together. Teachers don’t like telling children that the Indians were slaughtered so we could have our city on top of the hill. Teachers also teach us about slavery and how horrible it was. They forget to mention that slavery played a part in rich people getting richer, or how a lot of companies would never have made it without the slaves working for the White man. We are taught about the German keeping Jewish people in concentration camps, but it is left out that America was doing the same to the Japanese. America is a nation built of immigrants but America even limited who could come to America. Not letting in races they saw as trouble, or mentally ill people who might tarnish the exceptionalism. We are a nation that hails the Bill of Rights as one of the greatest documents. People don’t seem to realize how many of those guaranteed freedoms have been altered by a government that no longer works for the people. It can be argued that every nation probably feels that they are the exceptional one. It is easy to see why so many American feel that America is the greatest, because it is something that we have been told our entire lives. If we look at America through the lenses that have been provided for us then America really is the best and superior. If those glasses are removed it is easily seen that American exceptionalism is nothing but a